A look back at the Guido Amsel case as court hears closing arguments in case this week

After nearly eight weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses, a judge will hear closing arguments Tuesday in the trialof accused mailbomber Guido Amsel.

The 51-year-old was arrested in July 2015 after packages containing bombs were mailed to his ex-wife Iris and two law firms tied to an ongoing civil dispute.

Amselis charged with five counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated assaultand several explosives-related offences in connection to the three bomb packages and aDecember 2013 explosionat his ex-wife's home in the Rural Municipality of St.Clements. No one wasinjured in that incident.

Two of the bomb packages from 2015were safely detonated by police but a third went off in the hands of Winnipeg lawyer, Maria Mitousis.

Mitousis, Iris Amsel'slawyerat the time,was seriously injured and lost her right hand after she pushed a button on atape recorder that had been sent to her River Avenue office July 3, 2015. The tape recorder was a home-made explosive device.

Maria Mitousis remembers the explosion

8 years ago

Duration 4:04

There was never any doubt in Maria Mitousis's mind that one day she would return to her family law practice at the all female firm of Peterson King. Despite having suffered life altering injuries when a package exploded in her office, Mitousis knew early on in her recovery that she would go back.

A second bomb, delivered to Iris Amsel'sWashington Avenue workplace,was detonated by a police robot, as was a third sent to the StradbrookAvenue office of Guido Amsel'sformer lawyers.

Court has heard the bombs arrived just one week before a scheduled auction to satisfy a debt Amsel owed Iris.

A city on edge

The mail bombs sent chills throughout Winnipeg and led to a number of scares, a fear heightened by the fact police couldn't immediately say for sure whether or not more bombs had been sent.

The false alarms including several at Canada Post processing plants went on throughout the summer of 2015.

Judge Tracey Lord ruled last weekthere were enough similarities and linkagesbetween the fourbomb events that she could conclude they were the responsibility of the same person. The decisioncame one day after prosecutors argued a similar fact motion thatwould allow Lord to use the evidence of one bombing incident to assess another.

Court has hearda piece of string seized at the 2013 bomb scene was found to have Amsel's DNA on it, as did a plastic pouch found at the site of the explosion that injured Mitousis.

Trial starts with grisly details

The trialstarted Oct. 24 with graphic testimonyfrom Const. Paul Barker, thefirst police officer to arrive at the scene of theexplosion that seriously injured Mitousis.

Barker said Mitousis complained her left hand was "stinging" so he lifted it to take a look. He was shocked but kept his reaction hidden from her.

"I would compare it to an empty glove. The skin was still there but the flesh and bones were gone," he said.

The first day of proceedings saw police detail their early investigation, including the painstaking task of piecing together the "thousands of potential exhibitory items" created by the explosions.

This included finding the blown up pieces of a note stuck to the tape recorder Mitousis received.

The reconstructed letter read in part: "Hi Maria, push enter to start. Listen to the conversation and phone me. Will help your defence."

The trial begins for accused letter bomber Guido Amsel

7 years ago

Duration 2:22

The trial of accused bomber Guido Amsel began Tuesday with graphic testimony from the first police officer to arrive at the scene of an explosion that seriously injured Winnipeg lawyer Maria Mitousis.

Amsel'slawyers cross-examined officers from the scene, alleging police lapses left evidence open to contamination.

The trial heard police officers executed a search warrant at Amsel's home on Pandora Avenue and found two digital recorders. Police alsoexecuted a so-called "sneak-and-peek" warrant later that month at another "residence of interest" on Minaki Bay in Winnipeg.

Court heard that home's kitchen, dining room and basement workshop were littered with electronic devices and tools, including soldering irons, a roll of copper wire, and what was described as "small electronic items you would see at Radio Shack," and partially disassembled Christmas tree bulbs.

Iris Amseltestified in November, telling court the handwriting on the suspicious package sent to her at the address on Washington Avenue "seemed similar"toAmsel's. An FBI expert who testified later in the trial said, while there were many similarities,he could not positively identify handwriting found on the three bomb packages as belonging to Amsel.

Amsel's ex-wife testifies at accused letter bomber's trial

7 years ago

Duration 2:11

During cross-examination, lawyers for accused letter bomber Guido Amsel painted a picture of his ex-wife as a jilted woman who tried to destroy his new relationship. Caroline Barghout reports.

Courthas heard Guido Amsel accused Iris of stealing $3 million from his business after their divorce. During cross-examination, defence lawyers accused Iris of mailing the bomb packages to herself and others in an effort to cast blame on Amseland prevent him from pursuing her for the missing money.

She denied the accusations in court.

Earlier this month court heard more about the three Winnipeg explosives, which had all beensent through Canada Post.

An RCMP scientist said they were built using triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a highly volatile explosive compound that can be synthesized from easy to obtain household cleaners.

The trial then heard froman RCMP DNA analyst, who testified about the DNA evidence that allegedly linked Amsel to the explosion in the Rural Municipality of St. Clements 2013 and the Winnipeg bombings in 2015.

RCMP DNA analyst Christopher Lett said a known blood sample previously identified in court as belonging to Amsel was compared to a mixed DNA profile developed from a plastic pouch found at the scene of the July 2015 bombing that injured Mitousis.

The mixed DNA profile was determined to include the DNA of Mitousis and Amsel as "possible contributors," Lett said.

When Lett isolated the two contributors, the "possible" Amsel sample and the known Amsel sample were found to be a positive match, with just a 1 in 1.2 billion-billion chance they came from different people.

'The evidence is fabricated'

When Amseltestifiedlate last week, heclaimed to be the victim of a conspiracy, saying his former lawyer, the Crown, and the forensics lab that tested the DNA evidence were all in on a plan to see him falsely accused of the crimes.

"The evidence is fabricated," he said.

Guido Amsel alleges conspiracy against him

7 years ago

Duration 1:57

Accused mail bomber Guido Amsel testified in his own defence in court Wednesday, and denied any involvement with three bombs sent to his ex-wife and two lawyers in July 2015.

He alleged hisex-wife is responsible for the explosion outside her home in 2013 and the three mail bombs sent in 2015.

Amsel also suggested his DNA could have been transferred to the plastic pouch found at the Mitousis blast which court heard was bought at a Winnipeg dollar store when he may have inadvertently touched it while shopping.

He said he sweats a lot and would take his kids to the dollar store every week, often touching items in the store.

As for the DNA found on the string at the 2013 explosion a string police allege was used as a tripwire Amselsaid he had likely left the string behind while doing work on the property years earlier.

Amsel is being tried by a judge alone.